Alice’s Explanation For Skipping Reviews – Plus Review For “Adventures In Babysitting”
I have made a mistake. As some, or a few, or several, or none (I really have no idea) may have noticed, I never wrote a review for both “Adventures In Babysitting” and “Time After Time.” While I had given myself a few good reasons for not doing this, it was only this week that I realized it was all a bunch of bunk.
Truth be told, I felt like the reviews had gotten kind of stale lately. I thought my “Death’s Door” review was one of the best ones I’ve ever written, but then again I had some extraordinary material to work with. The real challenge came with the lesser, aka “filler” episodes. My criticisms were going on to be a broken record. I start writing and pretty soon I’m humming Herman Hermit’s “Henry The Eighth I am” to my self (Second verse, same as the first…). A lot of repetition with little substance.
It was also words that a dear friend of mine, Maureen Ryan, said in her parting review for Supernatural that got me thinking. I talked at length with Mo at the Salute To Supernatural con in Chicago in October and her frustrations with the show were very clear. She even that weekend wrote up a tough love intervention based on our discussion along with Lynn and Kathy of Fangasm. Instead, with that article and a review she did for “The Mentalists” she got an earful from vocal fans that shouted her down for excessive negativity.
Mo’s issues with writing reviews were the same as mine. As she said in her article, “Why I Gave Up Weekly Winchester Reviews,” “…The show used to be a model of consistency. It never really strayed outside of certain quality parameters.” Once it strayed, the happiness of the reviews strayed as well. It was this point though of Mo’s that made me step back from writing reviews. “The lack of consistency in the writing is leading to more arguments among fans.”
I’m an analytical person by nature. I don’t just judge an episode on whether or not Jared or Jensen rocked it that day (and they always do). I have always thoroughly analyzed the writing and it really kills me that they’ve given me plenty of ammunition in the last two seasons. I’ve always looked at directing, lighting, set decoration, hair, the total package, as well as the writing and acting. I’m always more impressed with an episode that involves a total group achievement. These past two seasons, I’ve tended to not to look at all those other elements as closely because the writing has become so baffling. It’s like trying to figure out the color of the carpeting when there’s a giant elephant filling the room.
Bottom line, I wasn’t sure I was doing a service anymore to this fandom by writing reviews. I couldn’t pretend to be the upbeat happy fan. I’ve always chosen to tell it like it is, and it felt like I was pissing off a lot of people recently. There’s a massive flaw in that logic though. Unlike Mo, I can’t quit. I am the creator/administrator/head writer for a successful Supernatural fan site. I built a reputation first at Blogcritics and then here for being a strong Supernatural episode reviewer. I’m the only person that has been writing reviews since we started, and to this day I’m still the most popular (I’m not bragging, I’m talking known statistics). We have a wide spectrum of reviews on this site and having a critical thinker only adds to our variety. That’s the type of edge we’re losing by me not doing reviews.
I went through a lot of my old reviews to remind myself how I used to do them. It wasn’t always pure Supernatural love. When I loved an episode I said so, when I had issues with an episode I said so, when the episode stunk like the piles of dog crap in my yard I said so. I was always cautious of tone though. In order to produce a seemingly objective review (a hard plight for a hard core Supernatural fan) criticisms need to be well worded and fair. As for praise, it’s okay to let the inner fan girl slip once in a while. Girlfriend needs to be unleashed from her box once in a while.
So, what I’m really trying to say through all this self indulgent monologuing is, I need to be giving you all fair reviews that involve total honesty. Ones designed to make you think, even though I’m aware most of you rarely agree with me 100 percent. That’s actually an awesome trait with this fandom. “Agree to disagree” is a favorite term of mine. Anything else is a cop out and not worth mine or your time.
This review may be late, and certainly not welcome at this point, but I need to go back and right a wrong. I got started in this business with one simple rule, even if one person reads my stuff, I’m doing something right. That might be all I get this go around and that’s okay.
Without further delay, here’s my review for “Adventures In Babysitting.”
Adventures In Babysitting
Supernatural has always done so many things right. I do find it mind boggling though that consistently every season this show has done such amazing mid season finales only to come back after a long break with mediocre filler. This episode really didn’t have much to live up to. It was in the same class of episodes like “Playthings,” “Family Remains,” “Sam, Interrupted,” and “Like A Virgin.” It so…didn’t even live up to even those.
I certainly would not rank “Adventures In Babysitting” as the worst of the many recent fillers we’ve gotten. “Defending Your Life” still takes that title. I actually liked that the episode didn’t go for the anvils over Bobby’s death and instead chose to show two guys that were just silently suffering in their own ways. It goes to show that these losses still do hurt, but they’re far beyond the days of weepy melodrama that came with say John Winchester’s death in season two. (That’s not a criticism. I’m just saying they’ve evolved).
It did hate however the “Week One,” “Week Two,” “Week Three” shout out to Twilight (no, I don’t know which movie) at the beginning. It just didn’t seem appropriate here. Shout outs are best served during the lighter moments. Or when they’re totally badass, like when Bobby tells Robo-Sam with an axe “Don’t say ‘Here’s Johnny.'” Otherwise, they’re contrived. Twilight is contrived, so that should have been a clue!
This episode raised my doubts again about Adam Glass as a Supernatural writer. My concern with his past scripts is that he’s always failed to get the real Sam and Dean. His characterization is weak and his dialogue is rather sluggish. I think he did that again here. It’s really no surprise that his best script by far is “Mommy Dearest,” which is the farthest thing from a character piece he’s done. He seems more suited for action plots and procedurals.
The best example of that point is the reappearance of Frank Deveraux. Compare Glass’ Frank Deveraux with the sharp tongued, cynical, wacky motor mouth we got with Robbie Thompson’s version in “Slash Fiction.” Here Frank is not anywhere as interesting or eccentric and his scenes with Dean were slow. Sure, he did have some great lines (“Gwyneth Paltrow is not a Leviathan…”) but the field scene with Dean in a cherry picker lacked a lot of entertainment value that could have come from that. I mean really, Dean, cherry picker, that alone should have been enough, but it fell flat.
I did love Frank’s very direct speech to Dean though about doing the job with a smile. Frank too entered this crazy underworld through tragedy, and it’s the only thing that’s kept him going all these years. Dean needed desperately to hear a reason for carrying on with the life, no matter how thin. He even told Frank his reason. He isn’t leaving his brother alone. That really is all Sam and Dean both need. It’s been enough for Sam, it’s so good to see Dean say the same.
Sam’s storyline followed what we expected. He needed to work. The call from Krissy, the daughter of a missing hunter, got his immediate attention. He wasn’t going to let her down. Sam is so depressed though and I can see that he’s barely managing to hold it all together. He was lacking that sympathetic spark with Krissy that he normally has with other people he’s trying to help. He was quite distant in his conversation with her in the apartment, choosing to take a professional tone. At the end when Krissy wanted to talk to Dean, Sam was there and he choose to walk ahead and wait for Dean at the car. The boy ain’t right. Avoiding people is a classic sign of depression.
The obvious sign was at the end in the car with Dean. Sam admitted he wasn’t okay and just wanted to work. Then he turned away and went to sleep, because talking about it wasn’t going to help. The brothers spent that three weeks alone not talking about their grief, and their little time apart didn’t seem to change that at all. Dean’s plight ended up just as sad, for he practiced smiling like Frank had suggested. I thought of Queen’s “The Show Must Go On.” “Inside my heart is breaking, my makeup may be fading but my smile, it stays on.” You know what, the eyes tell it all. Dean is going to need a lot of practice at faking it until he makes it.
Quite frankly, both of these brothers are bumming me out. That’s probably why this episode wasn’t very satisfying. No, I didn’t expect it to be all roses and candy canes given Bobby’s death. They aren’t even talking though. They’re swallowing their hurt and carrying on by going through the motions. That would be understandable if they were kicking ass and taking names before Bobby’s death. But they’ve been in this wimpy funk since late last season. It’s not only getting very uninspiring to watch, but I’m beginning to question what the hell the writers are doing to these characters. They’re so…dare I say it…bland. Great looking, but bland.
I’m also in the camp though that misses Castiel, misses Bobby, and sorely sorely sorely misses the Impala. I understand the point, I really do, these boys are losing absolutely everything dear to them and have to fend on their own. All they have is each other. It does make for a compelling circumstance but it isn’t just the characters that experience these great losses. It’s the fans as well. The motivation is if the fans feel this terrible loss, they’ll relate to the characters more. Okay, that’s good, except I’m not relating to the characters. They’re more foreign to me than ever! I’m still trying to work out if that’s my problem or the writers are missing something.
To be honest, I really wouldn’t even be anywhere near as sour on this episode if the MOTW plot had been interesting. It was figured out and resolved pretty easily. Sam investigates, Sam gets captured, Dean saves him (kind of), and Sam suffers physically in the process. Sure, Krissy was spunky and I really liked her, but other than being memorable by falling in the “New Kid In Town” category for jumping the shark, Krissy proved to be a far better hunter than the three older dolts chasing these Vetalas. When your lifeless heroes are challenged with “Are You Smarter Than a Eighth Grader?” it doesn’t bode well in the trying to gain confidence in your character’s department. Or plot line.
Even the classic rock choices were a mixed bag. While I’m positively THRILLED we got not one but two classic rock songs, REO Speedwagon’s “Riding The Storm Out” took me back to the days when Eric Kripke would close a downer ending with the Impala riding off the the rocking music of the Scorpions. Not appropriate! There are thousands of better, more sentimental songs to play in reflection of the tragedy that we went out with in the midseason finale. Metallica’s “Nothing Else Matters” comes to mind, but I know that can be quite expensive. Since The Scorpions has been used before, “Winds of Change” would have worked. Not my fave, but it would have been far better than “Riding The Storm Out.” If the excuse was “We didn’t want to open with a bummer,” perhaps they didn’t read the script.
On the plus side though, Traffic’s “Mr. Fantasy” couldn’t have been more perfect. It’s the classic rock equivalent of grin and bear it. It suited Dean’s mindset to a tee and it’s the ideal road song for driving at night when your two main characters are way down in the dumps.
Overall, I give “Adventures In Babysitting” a C-. I sincerely doubt it’ll make my re-watch list. Coming up, my review of “Time After Time.” That one makes this fan girl much happier.
Your feelings are totally understandable. Some comments made have taken quite a nasty tone. So…not cool! Some people need to calm down and take a deep slow breath.
Okay, enough of that…on to your review! You made some very valid points although I enjoyed the episode a little bit more than you. I also thought the beginning was nice to see. They kind of skimmed over that in The Girl Next Door with showing the guys recovery and a lot of people felt cheated. In addition, I think filler episodes are okay, but I really like the meaty ones better as I’m sure others feel exactly the same way. Here’s hoping the new one this Friday is a meaty one and not another filler! But if it is…that’s still okay with me.
FWIW, I had a total fannish meltdown about the quality of this season’s eps after a triple whammy of Death’s Door/Mystery Spot/Jus in Bello back in December. I hear you and agree with you (except the boobie prize winner for me this season is Dr. Phil, Spike and Cordy be damned). It’s hard when our favorite show keeps missing in the writing department when everything else seems to be moving along so well. However, I’m in it till the bloody end, and my vids will show that, I hope.
Thank you for your review Alice. I know this will sound awful but I havent watched this one or in fact one since TFAW that episode just rubbed me up the wrong way and I havent found a massive desire to see the others . However I have appreciated all the reviews on here and like reading them.
I havent given up on the show so I am hoping that the second half is better personally for me
I’m glad you’ve decided to keep doing the reviews, Alice. Your reviews are always fair. I’m one of those that don’t always agree, not only with you; but with many on this board, but what a great site you maintain. I have never been bashed by anyone on this board for having opposing reactions to episodes. That’s a tribute to you and your site and something you can be very proud of.
I’ll just get this out of the way. I want the damned Impala back!! They’ve filmed episode 17 now and still no Impala. I’m feeling audience manipulation and I don’t like it.
This episode — I totally agree with you. Well, a little dissenting on Adam Glass. I think Glass does writes Dean fairly well, but the rest of what you say about him, I agree with. C- is about right.
The cherry picker scene: There was no reason for it to be in the episode. With neither Frank (super genius that he’s supposed to be) nor Dean spotting the cameras on every tree and post, the scene just made both look dumb.
Krissy: Can’t stand the character and am not looking forward to her return. She was just too cute, too clever, too tough, and had ‘sister fanfic’ written all over her forehead. These writers really have to stop reading fanfiction and giving us story after story from fanon (fan made-up canon).
Krissy fooled super smart Sam into believing she was a regular kid and didn’t know her father hunted. She fooled street-smart Dean with a Bobby pin. She saved three experienced hunters; two of which are supposed to be the best hunters on the planet, by giving the MotW a con job. She not only saved them, she got her first kill two years younger than Dean (and probably Sam, too, but we don’t know).
I don’t have a problem with Sam making kills, but Lee said three or four feedings and you die. Sam had been missing for at least three or four days, which meant three or four feedings. Lee said you can’t see, you can’t walk, blah, blah — but Sam jumps up out of that chair and kills the monster choking Dean. And Dean. Dear God, don’t get me started on the frozen and unable to move because a KID is in danger thing.
I was okay with the opening sequence, except I just kept thinking that if Sheriff Mills had no trouble finding that cabin when she bonded with Bobby, then the Levi shouldn’t have any trouble at all, so why is the Impala missing? Seriously, they got rid of Bobby’s house (which I loved) and park the brothers in Rufus’s cabin. Why is that? They get rid of Bobby and bring in Frank as Bobby2. Why is that? I’m just having a little trouble buying into ‘the brothers are all alone’ when other characters were brought in to fill their same roles.
Anyway, I’m doing a suck it up, princess moment. Sweeps month, so I’m hoping that Fri’s episode will be better than it sounds. I think the writers for this one did Route 666, though, and I’m really nervous about a possible regression to the fanfic ‘Dean is a daddy,’ but we’ll see. I’m hanging in there every week hoping.
You know what is scary Alice, until I saw the pics, I had forgotten which episode Adventures in Babysitting was. Granted I had low expectations of the episode when it was on but you’d think I would remember an episode that was only on a few weeks ago. I blame it partially on the hiatus and partially on the fact that is was a middle of the road episode for me.
Yes there were moments I liked, (I actually like the week one, week two, etc beginning) and I actually liked Frank but in small doses. I think the MOTW was a little too predictable but nothing stood out as really terrible. Oh well, there’s comfort in the tried and true I guess.
I think that we as fans are so spoiled. We are used to getting such incredible episodes that when we get a ho hum filler episode we are let down. By any other shows standards Adventures in Babysitting was probably a pretty good one, but we have higher standards. It will get watched again in repeats, I’m sure. I couldn’t bring myself to rewatch the horrible Defending Your Life last week. Its the first time I have ever purposely missed an episode even in repeats since the inception of the series. That’s pretty bad. I even rewatched Rt 666 when it came out on DVD and that was my standard for badness for a long time.
I miss Mo’s reviews. I was upset that so many people jumped on her when she was only expressing her opinion. I do agree though that she should step back. If it stopped being fun for her, the show, having to write reviews then maybe its a good thing to step back and reevaluate. It looks like it stopped being fun for you as well. Maybe a little burn out? Please don’t stop writing your reviews as well. They are one of the ones I look forward to but if you feel the need to step back, I’ll understand.
I can’t even identify the episodes anymore. Like when the poster above wrote TFAW, I had to go look up the title to see what that stood for.
I actually forgot there were repeats on during this hiatus. Didn’t catch any of them. That says a lot about my enthusiasm level these days.
I still love SPN, but I just keep waiting for something to happen. I’m not invested in the brothers’ personal stories this season, because it just looking more and more like they have been beat down by life and should just hang up hunting. Their personal issues are the same we’ve heard about for years without resolution or conclusion. I guess I’m just bored with that side of their characters. I want a, “We’ve got work to do,” moment now…with the Impala, please.
[quote]
I still love SPN, but I just keep waiting for something to happen. .[/quote]
Same here Ginger problem is i don’t know what. These gaps are killing me..
[quote][quote]
I still love SPN, but I just keep waiting for something to happen. .[/quote]
Same here Ginger problem is i don’t know what. These gaps are killing me..[/quote]
Until it’s revealed what the story is this season — the brothers’ angst and issues or the Levi that can’t be killed, there’s no way to really figure out what to hope for.
I’m so glad you’re still doing reviews, Alice. There’s never a problem with looking at something critically.
I had a different reaction to this episode than you did, so to me, the writing is still strong. I loved the way the boys were shown dealing with their grief. I don’t really mind if there was a tip to Twilight there because I don’t watch those movies and the montage still worked for me, so it stood on its own feet.
I did love the nod to True Grit as I loved that movie in both versions. Madison Blaine did a wonderful turn as the Mattie Ross character. I didn’t have a problem with her being an excellent young hunter, because the point was for Dean to relate to her and give her the advice he wasn’t able to give Sam. It was a nice call back to the many emotional moments Sam has had with Dean where Sam felt judged and Dean felt betrayed by Sam leaving his family for Stanford. At this stage, Dean understands very well what was driving Sam and though he and Sam will never leave the life, he’ll what he can to save Chrissie. It shows how far the boys have traveled, emotionally.
Reading your review, I think one fundamental difference in how I experience the show is that I don’t find Sam’s and Dean’s emotional issues wimpy or the boys bland. I think their journey to this spot has been well supported and watching Dean trying to smile at the end was heart wrenching for me. Their individual and shared emotional stories have always been the heart of the show for me.
I think this show has always opted for showing the consequences of Sam and Dean’s life. Some other shows this season caught critical flack (Sons of Anarchy, Homeland) for building up a story which would obviously lead to a negative outcome and then welching on the story to find a feel good escape. Supernatural has never done this. Sam and Dean may get resurrected but they are never Teflon characters. They get hurt, emotionally and physically. They lose people. They lose hope.
I don’t take it that I have to lose hope, though. I think this story is a wonderful combination of myth and character study. I think Sam will eventually put himself together into something extraordinary and that Dean will find his way to reconcile his killer instincts with his mothering instincts. But it will be a painful path.
Thanks for not giving up on your reviews Alice, I may not always agree with what you say, but I like reading it. I actually thought “Adventures in Babysitting” was pretty good as a filler episode. Is it going to make my repeat viewing when I buy the DVDs? Probably not as often as some of the others will, but I have watched it a few times already on my DVR and I can tell you right now, I liked it a whole lot better than “Defending Your Life”!
Now, there are a few things I didn’t care for too much, starting with the MOTW. The vetalas just annoyed me to no end. They were pretty boring. And yes, Dean freezing at the end was a little weird, that is not in his MO by no means. Sam walking away from Krissy at the hospital also did not fit with his MO. Is it because he’s depressed? Maybe.
Now, what I liked. Krissy for one. I love bad-ass kids, especially if they are girls. I liked the interaction of Dean with Krissy. There is just something about Dean and kids. Which brings me to this Friday’s episode. Dean as a father! Oh boy, I hope it’s gonna be good and not disappointing.
I’m glad you decided to keep writing reviews, Alice. I think the biggest strength of this website is the smart writing – not just the reviews, but the psychological and literary analyses. Personally, I wouldn’t stay long at a website where I was constantly hearing hate against the show, i.e. “It should have ended with season 5, Becky Gamble is redundant… blah blah blah … ” But I also wouldn’t stay long at a site where I felt that saying I disliked an episode was against site policy.
I think you do a nice job of balancing the lighter features with the more serious critical analyses, and also moderating the comments. I don’t understand the fear out there that some critical comments will cause a show to get cancelled. I find that after watching an episode, I have an initial reaction – positive or negative. It isn’t totally formed yet, but it doesn’t change much over the next 24 hours, during which I’m posting my feedback, reading other comments and reviews, and possibly doing a rewatch. I don’t form my opinions based on someone else’s reviews. Those reviews may give me something different to think about – positive or negative – but my initial impression sticks with me.
Actually, if I’m having trouble with an episode or a bigger issue with the show, I find it comforting to read comments from other people who have the same problems. It helps me clarify my thoughts and move forward, rather than continuing to stew over my issues.
Regarding the Babysitting episode, I didn’t like it much. There were the things such as Sam so easily walking into the trap, Dean freezing, the odd look on Dean’s face at the end. But the main thing was that I thought that this episode was a perfect representation of my main criticism of this season – which is that it was filler. Unlike past seasons, I don’t feel like the writers are telling a story. Yeah, I guess the Leviathan are supposed to be the story, but they just seem like another big bad – the same type of monster that Sam and Dean fight every week. I don’t feel a forward momentum that a good story usually has – with the tension growing, the plot developing new layers and twists, and different elements starting to tie together as the season progresses. I feel like we’re just killing time with filler after filler. I was confident at the beginning of the season that the Dean arc would lead somewhere and would trigger a development in the bigger story (like Sam’s demon blood triggered the apocalypse, Castiel’s arc led to the leviathans). I no longer have confidence that this is building up to anything. And don’t get me started on my disappointment over Sam’s story (which was also represented in this episode, with this mostly being about Dean’s grief). 😛
Alice, the first time I ever read anything you had written was a few years ago. It was about the loss of Kim Manners and it was so lovely. At that time I did not have access to a computer so someone printed it out for me. I have been visiting the site for about a year and commenting only recently. I always go straight to your reviews first. Disagree sometimes? Yes. Who cares. The reviews on your site are alway thoughtful and thought provoking. If some of the reviews are negative, so be it.
Who wants to read gushy praise all the time. The show has issues.
Ginger, loved your comments.
The episode reviewed, solid “B” for me. Hope we have some “A”s on the horizon’
Please keep doing your reviews, Alice!
I appreciate your critical look at the episodes. You always find things that I’ve missed, whether positive or negative, & I come away with a more well-rounded opinion of the episodes after reading the reviews & comments on this site.
I too terribly miss the Impala & dearly wish that Bobby & Cas were still with us (yes, the fans certainly feel these losses as much as the boys do). Although I still feel as empty & lost as the guys seem to be with the direction of the show these past 2 seasons, I’m happy the show is still on the air. I’ll keep watching to the end!
Alice, yours is a tough position, and I admire your continued commitment to the site and the fans. I’m glad to see your reviews, whether or not I agree, because they give me a better perspective on the show.
I too had trouble remembering which episode “Adventures in Babysitting” was. And when I did remember, I remembered how much I was disappointed by it. Your comment that Sam and Dean have out grown the overt emotional displays that followed John’s death makes sense, and I agree that there should be solidarity between them. I did not like the title card “week one, week two, week three” approach to mourning, however. I think Bobby deserved a hunter’s send off, and I am still disappointed that we did not see it. With him gone, I would like to see Sam and Dean assume more of his responsibilities than just being Krissy’s back-up. Bobby was the glue in the hunting community, and his absence is going to hurt everyone.
The rest of the episode was flat. I could respect Krissy saving the day if it had been planned in advance with Dean as a distraction/surprise attack, but this made the others look naive and ignorant.
The only part of the episode I felt respect for was Frank’s talk to Dean about how to keep going. It’s the kind of advice I would have expected him to give, though I don’t think it will do much for psychological stability for both brothers to be repressing their darker feelings and fears at the same time.
I’d say C- is about right.
Just dropping a note to say that I enjoyed reading your review. 🙂
I do agree that there are too few bright sparks in “Adventures in Babysitting”, particularly since I was expecting a stellar follow-up after Bobby’s death.
Hi Alice
I have always enjoyed your reviews, they have always been honest, fair and quite witty at times.
I like reading the different views that people have, I find it opens my mind to things I may have missed or interpreted differently. I don’t feel any of us viewers are any less invested or care less by either expressing only the positive and joy or by expressing concerns or by being down right dissatisfied, as long as it is civil and respectful.
I know this show is not perfect. There have been episodes where I have thought WTH was that? And I have not always liked the direction they have taken a storyline.
And admittedly I am not as obsessed as I was when I first started watching (although my family may say otherwise), but I believe that has more to do with me than the show itself. Things in my life have vastly changed from seven years ago and therefore so have my priorities and how I look at things. However I still LOVE this show to death and believe it to be the best show out there. I can miss an episode on any other show and not have it bother me, but Supernatural? No way.
Cheers! 🙂
Loved your fair review Alice, and I agree with so much (Adam Glass, hehe).
For the first time, I’m going to admit something.
When I first heard the premise of S7 “Butch & Sundance, Brothers alone against the world, with all their support taken away. Challenge brothers as hunters”
When I first heard this, I thought “that sounds boring”. I thought that the brothers were “challenged as hunters” every season with minimal support. It sounded too much like the past 6 seasons. Nothing about it sounded exciting.
I might be the only fan who felt that way. I was hoping I’d be wrong, and execution would make up for it.
This review reminded me how I would have enjoyed Krissy more if she hadn’t showed up Dean. Then I wondered if she had a deeper story meaning, like was Krissy supposed to represent a young Dean? Then I realized that I couldn’t add up a theme for this episode.
Remember when the MOTW stories harmonized with what the brothers were going thru, like in “Mystery Spot�? Hence the episodes had a theme or meaning. S7 is supposed to strip the brothers of all support, but that’s to lead us to new levels of strength – right? That’s the reason for this journey?
Imagine if Sam’s story, Frank/Dean’s & Krissy/Dean’s had added together and reinforced a meaning.
Let’s see if I can add it up.
Sam is depressed, but is still a hero who saves Krissy’s dad. Cool.
Frank gives Dean a suck it up speech, plus you’re going to get killed if you don’t find a reason to live. Also, Frank shows us how all hunters had a horrible loss, but turned into strength, except Frank seems nuts.
Krissy shows us how her mother’s death & dad’s hunting made her so capable.
Dean convinces Krissy’s dad to leave hunting. That’s supposed to be a victory. But it implies that there is no victory in hunting, and only damaged people do it. Hunting is hopeless, the only happy ending is to get out. To me, this invalidates how hunters are heroes. It also makes Sam/Dean look really damaged that they couldn’t get out.
Maybe I just didn’t get what the writers were trying to say? Or maybe there wasn’t supposed to be a meaning except the brothers making the best of a hopeless situation.
I so agree with everything you stated in this article. When it was over I felt depressed and angry. It wasn’t offensively bad but it used to be so good with inspired writing, interesting villains, and solid scripts. This ep was so blah that I started to wonder why I even watch the show anymore. I’m glad they bounced back the following week but if I see another episode like Adv. in BS (no pun intended – but I like it), I’m going to give up on this show for good.
Just wanted to say I’m glad you decided to keep writing your reviews, Alice. I think it’s great to read varied opinions of any given episode. It makes the episode that much more interesting. Reading views that differ from our own can give us a new perspective, or at the very least clarify in our own minds why we hold the opinion we do about a particular episode.
I have always believed that voicing concerns about a show doesn’t mean we still don’t love it. It’s because we love SPN that we dissect and analize it, and sometimes that will include criticisms of particular aspects of an episode or even an entire season.
Thank-you for your reviews, Alice, and for this site in general. I’m just happy to have a place to go that provides thoughtful articles and interesting discussions on all things SPN.
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